Mary caught in speed trap

At the most basic level, the job of a parliamentarian is not to obfuscate, self-aggrandise or intrigue against their colleagues. No, the bottom line for MPs is to vote.

Most would be aware that even this task has proven beyond some federal MPs of late –
Malcolm Turnbull
and a few others that didn’t cop as much heat about it as he did – but some may have missed the antics of
Mary Wooldridge
in the Victorian Parliament.

Mary missed her chance to be contrary in Parliament last week when she was a bit slow getting from her office to vote on a bill. Her absence meant
Ted Baillieu
’s Coalition government earned the distinction of being the first to lose a vote in the lower house for 30 years. Wooldridge has promised to provide an explanation to Parliament this week as the government engages in some fancy footwork to get its bill back up for a fresh vote. Presumably Wooldridge will be there for that one.

There’s a few interesting bills up this week, including the recent state budget and another one establishing an independent speed camera tsar. The house will also debate whether to set up a system of fines for badly behaved MPs, which has us intrigued. On our reading of the legislation there is no penalty for missing votes.